TOP HEADLINES

-Several thousand people held an unauthorised protest in Amsterdam on Sunday against a national lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, before being dispersed by riot police.

-Austria has extended its third COVID-19 lockdown into February, hoping to drive down infection rates despite an influx of variants that spread the coronavirus more easily.

-The UK government hopes to ease some lockdown restrictions in March as it presses ahead with Europe's fastest rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said on Sunday.

-A German minister says people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 should be allowed to go to restaurants and cinemas earlier than others, contradicting other cabinet members who have so far opposed special freedoms for those inoculated.

-The UK government says it will give financial aid to airports before the end of March, after the industry called for urgent support as tighter COVID-19 rules for international travellers start on Monday.

-In France, a new COVID-19 curfew began on Saturday night, which makes it illegal for citizens to leave their homes between 6 p.m and 6 a.m. unless it is for essential reasons that are exempt, including key workers traveling to and from work.

-Italy is suspending flights from Brazil, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said on Saturday, in response to a new coronavirus variant.

-UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab says he's confident all UK citizens will receive their second COVID-19 jab within the stated 12-week timeframe.

-Portugal's Finance Minister Joao Leao has tested positive for COVID-19, his office said on Saturday, a day after he took part in an in-person meeting in Lisbon with top EU officials including Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

-Thousands of people marched through Vienna on Saturday to protest against restrictions on public life designed to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

ACROSS EUROPE

Iolo ap Dafydd in London 

The latest COVID-19 daily summary from the UK government revealed that 1,295 people died from the virus on Saturday, but new infection rates were down on the previous day.

More mass COVID-19 vaccination centres are opening in coming days as the government tries to meet its target of offering the first dose of a vaccine to 15 million people by mid February. The total this weekend is more than 3.5 million.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to close all travel corridors for a period underlines the concerns about new coronavirus variants. After banning travellers from South America, Panama and Portuguese territories last week, all travel corridors - which are in place to allow arrivals from some countries to avoid quarantine - will close from 4 a.m. on Monday.  

Arrivals to the UK will need to isolate for up to 10 days, although the quarantine period can be cut short with a negative test after five days. People will also have to show proof of a negative test taken in the previous 72 hours before travelling. Many other countries imposed similar travel bans at the beginning of the pandemic.

Mia Alberti in Budapest

Government officials from Hungary are set to visit Moscow in order to reach a deal to buy Russia's COVID-19 vaccine, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health. The Hungarian government considers "the pace of the EU-coordinated vaccine deliveries to be slow" and says if it "relies solely on Brussels, the restrictions cannot be lifted before the end of September."

Hungary has already reached a deal with China to acquire its Sinopharm vaccine and its approval process is already underway.

Meanwhile neighbouring Serbia, which also bought the Sinopharm jab, received a shipment of one million doses on Saturday, making it the first EU country to receive the Chinese vaccine. Inoculation plans in the rest of the Balkans continue to move slowly, as Albania and Serbia remain the only countries in the region to have started vaccinating its residents.

FROM OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES

CGTN Europe special: First batch of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine lands in Serbia

CGTN China: Beijing requires seven extra days of monitoring for international travelers

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CGTN Africa: Tunisia's Arab Spring, 10 years later

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CGTN Europe has been providing in-depth coverage of the novel coronavirus story as it has unfolded. Here you can read the essential information about the crisis.